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4/27/2008

Follow the Bouncing Torch

It can become numbing to try to keep up with all the stories about the torch and keep track of where exactly it has been and is going next. Still, it remains fascinating to see how the response to it have varied from place to place. Plus there are some intriguing locales such as Pyongyang are on the horizon. Fortunately, for those who want a quick visual reminder of what's happened so far, as well as a guide to where the flame is headed, there's a handy interactive map in the Financial Times.

With a name like the FT's, clever multimedia visuals aren't the first thing that come to mind, except maybe ones that show bulls and bears fighting it out to illustrate the latest stock market developments. But the FT is often unusually good at covering China, and this is not the only nifty Olympic-related visual at their site. I also like their visual timeline of China's involvement in the Games, which includes a reminder of the now often forgotten moment in 1960 when an element of protest came into the Rome 1960 Opening Ceremonies, due to a flap over how Taiwan's team had to describe itself. So much for the tired notion that the Games have never been politicized before, or have only been politicized in a few hot-button years, such as 1936 and 1980.